I 

The Jews of New Yarl 
In the Arts, Scient^S^^ . ^^^ 
and Profession^ 




Address before the Judaean Society on the 

Occas on of its celebration of the 250th 

Anniversary on the Settlement of 

the Jews in New York 

Hotel Savoy April 29th 1905 



NEW YORK: 

The Americah Hebrew and Jewish Mbssengkr 
iqo5 



f 130 



THE JEWS OF NEW YORK IN THE 
ARTS, SCIENCES, AND PROFESSIONS 

By Leon Huhner. 

The important position occupied by Jews 
to-day in the arts, sciences and the profes- 
sions stands in strong contrast with their 
condition two hundred and fifty years ago. 
When the twenty-three refugees arrived 
in 1654, it could hardly be said that Jews 
had a place in any of these departments, 
in the old world or the new. In most 
European countries, restrictive laws were 
still in full force, while in the German 
States and elsewhere the walls of the 
Ghetto were still real and tangible. Even 
in England, the schools and great univer- 
sities barred their doors to their admission 
and with the possible exception of Medi- 
cine, access to the learned professions was 
denied ; the few Jews who did become 
physicians had to rely largely on self-edu- 
cation or the assistance of other Jewish 
practitioners. After surmounting all these 
obstacles, the hospitals closed their wards 
3 



against them, and this doubtless accounts 
for the fact that so few Jewish physicians 
appear from the time of the re-settlement 
in England, down to the nineteenth cen- 
tury. 

The restrictions and disabilities existing 
in England were reflected in the new world 
as well. In New York, fortunately, these 
disabilities were removed nearly half a 
t:entury before their removal in England. 

As to the legal profession, existing dis- 
abilities were of little account during the 
Dutch Regime. There was then no such 
thing as a distinct class of professional 
lawyers. Cases were tried before the wor- 
shipful court of the Shout, Burgomaster 
and Schepens, but neither magistrates nor 
those who pleaded before them pretended 
to any legal education. In fact, this state 
of affairs continued into the English pe- 
riod and almost to the close of the seven- 
teenth century. To quote Judge Redfield, 
^'The records do contain the names of a 
number of attorneys but these attorneys 
were traders, factors for foreign merchants 
or, it may be, mechanics, who, possessing a 
recognized talent for managing affairs, or 
for penmanship or an easy volubility, were 
likely to be called on by their neighbors to 
4 



act as conveyancers or advocates." So it- 
happens that the names of Jews appear 
among these early attorneys in New York 
almost from the date of their arrival. Thus 
Solomon Pietersen, a Jew, appears as at- 
torney in 1654 and in the court records of 
New Amsterdam throughout the entire 
Dutch period, no name is more prominent 
than that of Asser Levy Van Swellem, 
whose almost uniform success even against 
such powerful men as Stuyvesant and 
Bayard doubtless accounts for the fact 
that he also appears as attorney for others- 
He also successfully defended the rights 
of his people against hostile elements, ob- 
taining the recognition of their rights to 
trade, the burgher right and the abandon- 
ment of a special tax on Jewish settlers. 
By the beginning of the eighteenth cen- 
tury, however, New York began to recog- 
nize the legal profession as such. The re- 
strictions existing in England then came to 
the fore, and no other Jewish attorneys 
appear throughout the entire rest of the 
Colonial period. The Constitution of 1777 
swept away the disabilities referred to, but 
it was not until 1802 that we meet with 
the first Jewish lawyer. This was Samp- 
son Sim son, who was graduated from Cq~ 
5 



lunibia College in 1800 and aJiiiitted to the 
bar in 1802. His name deserves to be pre- 
served in our annals as the noble founder 
of Mount Sinai Hospital. 

There were but few Jewish members 
of the bar during the first half of the 
nineteenth century. Alexander Kursheedt 
might be mentioned, and at one time S. 
B. H. Judah w'as the only one. Prior to 
the Civil War the most prominent was 
Jonas B. Phillips, who, for over a quarter 
of a century, was Assistant District At- 
torney. 

It is only within the past half century, 
however, that the Jew has attained his 
present important position at the New 
York bar. As a jurist the eminent services 
of the late Simon Sterne in the direction 
of reform legislation are uniformly recog- 
nized. Our recently deceased member, 
Judge Myer S. Isaacs, won distinction as 
an authority on real estate law, and two 
of the leading jurists in the Constitutional 
Convention a decade ago belong to the Jew- 
ish community. To-day we may justly be 
proud of the learning and integrity of our 
representatives upon the bench, and of the 
fact that for the second time within a 'Tie- 
cade, members of our race have been 
6 



honored with the office of Attorney Gen- 
eral. 

Turning to tlie art of healing, which 
was intimately associated with Jews 
throughout the Middle Ages, it is a cu- 
rious fact that no Jewish physicians ap- 
pear in New York throughout the entire 
Dutch or English Regime, unless possibly 
Dr. Benjamin Lindner, who is mentioned 
in 1761. be the sole exception. No legal 
restrictions seem to have existed. It must 
be remembered, however, that but forty- 
four physicians appear in the colony be- 
tAveen 1695 and the Revolution, that the 
medical department of Columbia College, 
established in 1765, graduated but twenty- 
three prior to 1800, and that the New York 
Jewish Community, even as late as 1826, 
numbered less than 1,000 souls, so that pro- 
fessional men would naturally be few- The 
first Jewish physician was Dr. Joel Hart, 
born in 1784, who was educated in Eng- 
land, and graduated from the Royal Col- 
lege of Surgery in London. In 1806, he 
was one of the founders of the Medical 
Society of the County of New York, and 
in 1807, one of the incorporators of the Col- 
lege of Physicians and Surgeons. Long 
before his time, however, there had been 
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Jewish physicians of standing in Pennsyl- 
vania, South Carolina and Georgia. 

In 1819 there was graduated from the 
College of Physicians and Surgeons Dr. 
Daniel Levi Maduro Peixotto, who subse- 
quently became favorably known as Pro- 
fessor of Medicine at Willoughby College, 
Dr. Aaron Lopez appears three years after- 
ward. Later still were Dr. Michaelis and 
Dr. Mitchell. With the German influx of 
half a century ago, came Dr. Abraham 
Jacobi, to-day one of the most eminent men 
in his profession. Jews are now numbered 
among the leading specialists and com- 
prise probably over one-fourth of the num- 
ber of physicians on Manhattan Island. 

Among early scientists we meet the name 
of Solomon Simson, the brother of Samo- 
son Simson, who was Vice-President of 
the American Mineralogical Society as 
early as 1798. To-day we are fairly rep- 
resented in the realms of pure science, 
chemistry, astronomy, engineering and 
architecture, and the new buildings of 
Mount Sinai Hospital attest the ability of 
a member of this Society. 

From time immemorial the Jew has ex- 
celled as a teacher. During the Colonial 
period, however, he could not enter that 
8 



profession. During the Dutch period it 
was in the hands of the clergy; during the- 
English Regime schoohnasters were pro- 
hibited from teaching unless they held a 
certificate from the Bishop of London. In 
the early part of the nineteenth century, 
however, some of the best private schools 
were conducted by Jews. Among these 
might be mentioned the one conducted by 
Isaac Harby and his sister in 1828- Dr. 
Isaac Nordheimer and Prof. George J. 
Adler might be mentioned as early mem- 
bers of the faculty of New York Univer- 
sity. To-day Jewish names appear in 
various departments of our important col- 
leges and universities and generous gifts 
from Jews have encouraged learning 
throughout the State. In the Department 
of Public Education there is hardly a pub- 
lic school on Manhattan Island where Jew- 
ish men and women do not form an im- 
portant portion of the staff, while one of 
the most important departments in the 
education of the public, was organized and 
developed by a distinguished member of 
this Society. 

The Jew has been no less prominent in- 
that other, and in some respects wider, 
field of public education — rournalism. To 

9 



him some of the early newspapers of the 
State owe their existence. Referring to 
the early years of the nineteenth century, 
General James Grant Wilson calls atten- 
tion to Mordecai Manuel Noah, "whom 
to omit," he says, "would render incom- 
plete a correct history of the newspaper 
press of New York City." In 1816 Noah 
«=-'-icceeded Judge Wheaton as Editor of the 
National Advocate, of which another New 
York Jew, Naphtali Phillips, was the pro- 
prietor. Noah also established the New 
York Enquirer in 1826, which, under the 
name of the Courier and Enquirer soon 
became one of the leading papers of the 
city. Subsequently, for many years, he was 
the editor of the New York Sun, publish- 
ing at the same time the Times and Weekly 
Messenger, one of the first attempts to es- 
tablish a purely literary newspaper. Among 
other journalists might be mentioned Isaac 
Harby, Barnet Phillips and the late Morris 
Phillips, who conducted the Home Journal 
and who has been called the "Father of 
Society News in America." To-day some 
of the leading writers on the various pa- 
pers are men of Jewish race, while among 
the papers conducted by them may be men- 
tioned the Press, the Globe, the World 
10 



and the Nczu York Times, which was raised 
as by magic b}' a distinguished member of 
this Society, to the proud position of one 
of tlie leading newspapers of the country. 

The ministerial profession and its im- 
portant influence deserves extended men- 
tion, but comes more properly under an- 
other subject upon the programme this 
evening. 

While the Jew was shut up in the old 
world ghetto he was constantly charged 
with having no eye for the beautiful. 
Those who with malicious eyes peered 
through the ghetto gates, charged the Jew 
for not transforming his wretched sur- 
roundings into a world beautiful. No 
.sooner, however, had the ghetto gates fallen 
than this downtrodden race gave to the 
world a Heine, a Mendelssohn and a Mey- 
erbeer. Despite the small number of Jews 
in New York as late as 1826, it is remark- 
able that there were so many literary men 
among them. Foremost among these was 
Major Noah, of whom George P. Morris, 
writing in 1829 says that "he was the 
great literary and political lion in the city 
of New York, that he told the best story, 
rounded the best sentence, and wrote .the 
best play of all his contemporaries, that 
11 



he was the Hfe and spirit of all circles^ 
that his wit was everywhere repeated, and 
that as an editor, critic and author he was. 
looked up to as an oracle." Harby, Judah 
and Jonas B. Phillips belong to this period. 
Coming down to our own time, the name 
of Emma Lazarus has become favorably 
known, while several Jewish writers, both 
native and of foreign birth, are not without 
distinction. Mention might be made of 
the Jeivish Encyclopedia in this connection. 

In the realms of art, the names of Laza- 
rus, Dessar, Hosier, Loeb and others have 
won recognition, and art has been encour- 
aged by many princely gifts from Jewish, 
sources. 

The genius of the Jew has been promi- 
nently connected with the development of 
the stage in New York. Some of the early 
New York dramatists, managers and actors 
were men of Jewish race. Aaron J. Phil- 
lips appeared at the Park Theatre as early 
as 1815 and later as a manager down to- 
1826. Moses S. Phillips, Samuel B. H. 
Judah, Emanuel Judah and Jonas B. Phil- 
lips belong to the early part of the nine- 
teenth century. The name of Mordecai 
Mamial Noah again comes to the front. 
His career as a playwright began as early, 
12 



as 1810, and Dunlap mentions the fact that 
most of his plays were eminently success- 
ful. Among these might be mentioned 
'The Grecian Captive," "The Fortress of 
Sorrento/' "The New Constitution, the 
''Siege of Tripoli," and many others. 
From that day to this the stage owes no 
small debt to Jewish genius. The German 
theatre owes its permanency to the efforts 
of Heinrich Conried, and to-day most of 
the leading theatres are owned or con- 
ducted by men of the Jewish race, while 
Jewish actors and playwrights are con- 
stantly before the public. 

If the community owes much to the Jew- 
in the development of the stage, it is still 
more indebted to his genius in the develop- 
ment of music and the opera. New York 
had no such thing as a musical world until 
alter the Revolution. John Howard Payne, 
the author of "Home, Sweet Home," was 
the son of a Jewish mother. 

The credit for introducing Italian opera 
in New York in 1825 is generally given 
to Lorenzo Da Ponte, a Jew by race, who 
was also the author of the libretto of Mo- 
2art's "Don Giovanni" and "Figaro." Later, 
in the early thirties. Da Ponte endeavored 
to give Italian opera a permanent home 
13 



in New York. In this, however, he failed, 
and it was left to an Austrian Jew to 
achieve that result. This was Max Ma- 
retztrk, who gave sixty consecutive per- 
formances of Italian operas in 1849. 
Shortly afterward opera received a fur- 
ther stimulas through the efforts of a 
Polish Jew, Moritz Strakosch, whose chief 
claim to fame, perhaps, lies ^^the fact 
that he was the music teacher of Adelina 
Patti. Under his management and that of 
his brother, appeared for the first time in 
America Thalberg, Patti and Nilsson. 
Still later came Dr. Leopold Damrosch,- 
the founder of the Oratorio and Symphony 
societies, and who may be styled the father 
of German Opera in xA.merica. The services 
of Maurice Grau and Heinrich Conried 
merely crown the continued efforts of Jews 
in this direction. 

The names of Mosenthal, Joseffy, 
Brandeis, the Aaronsons and many others 
might be mentioned in the world of music, 
and the magnificent gifts of the Loeb 
famil}^ and others have done much to make 
New York, America's foremost musical 
centre. 

All that the Jew has achieved, however, 
may be traced to the broad spirit of re- 
14 



ligious liberty, and to those free institu- 
tions wFich give privileges to none and 
equal opportunities to all. The American 
Jew strives to educate his children so as 
to fit them for something above and beyond 
the mere accumulation of money. When 
we reflect that the great masses of our 
poorer brethren are still in the throes of 
the mere struggle for existence, yet de- 
spite this fact, the children of the tenements 
are already crowding our colleges and our 
professional schools, looking upon the 
record of the past, may not the American 
Jew confidently expect that he vitill yet 
place in the crown of the Empire State's 
achievement, some of the brightest jewels 
that have ever graced that triple crown, of 
Science, of Literature and of Art. 



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